


Castle Of Glass

by MattyWantsToBattle



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Pedophilia, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-08-23 14:35:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8331496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MattyWantsToBattle/pseuds/MattyWantsToBattle
Summary: It's college, Mark! How's your life gonna go now?Or,Mark's finally graduated high school. His friends had all graduated a year previous and left him, but now that he's old enough, he's moved to the same college.His life might have finally changed for the better, now that he's met new friends, and he's not in the way of getting hurt by his mother or step father.But even if things are getting better, there's always a way for them to get worse.And boy did they get worse.Can Jack fix Mark before Mark decides to end his life?Or will Mark finally give himself freedom from the pain?





	1. Vivi

**Author's Note:**

> This story has a lot of different trigger warnings and is mostly so I can write about stuff while adding as much detail to the slightest of movements as possible, like I love to do, i.e., ‘His fingers finally met his own hair, shakily running through scarlet as a cold huff escaped his pale lips. A small bite finally pinched his lip down, chocolate eyes glancing away.’ Instead of ‘He ran a hand through his hair, huffing a bit before he bit his lip, looking away.’ I put Mark and Cry as roommates because in this universe, Cry is agender (and can read minds minimally leave me alone) and has been raped by an old girlfriend of theirs. They’re the only one with any sort of powers though. Trigger warnings for mentions of rape, one gang rape that is barely coherent, abuse, pedophilia, drugs, self harm, cheating, panic attacks, and a suicide attempt. I do have a story in mind, a part of which I’ve wanted to do forever and another part because I’m reading Lolita in school and I get ideas from other stories a lot. Sorry.

 “And this is your room.”

Mark let the luggage that had previously been pressing against his fingers heavily enough to leave indentions and rub his skin raw drop to the floor, pulling his hand up close and flexing his fingers.

“Thank you.” He chirped to the other; Danny, he’d said his name was.

The taller and older other nodded, giving him a kind smile before saying that they should hang out sometime, leaving Mark alone with his thoughts.

Mark shut the door behind him, glancing at the two beds set up in the room.

He grasped at his suitcases, throwing them onto one of the beds. He wondered if he should wait for his roommate to appear and pick a bed, but honestly, fatigue was setting in his bones and he needed rest before he fainted.

Mark quickly put his things away and fixed up the bed, jumping in.

His chocolate eyes slowly shut, feeling the jet lag from his travel to the college a few states over from Cincinnati finally make its way into his entire body.

His friends Bob, Wade, and Tyler had already decided on this college to go to and, being the youngest of them, a year junior, Mark hadn’t been able to come until just then.

Mark pressed his warm, thick tongue against the inside of his teeth, something he usually did when he tried to sleep or ignore pain in the night that Mark had, in all honesty, gotten used to by then.

His father and mother had divorced when he was about 7.

2 years later, his father had died.

Mark remembered the sharp, stabbing pain that had carved its first scars into his heart. It was the first night he’d done it, watching as his eyes seemed to close and nightmares scattered and melted away. He wasn’t sure why it had become his safety blanket. He didn’t know why it helped, but it did, causing his eyes to shut and his heart and breathing slow to his sleep state.

Around the same time his father died, his mother remarried.

Mark remembered the first time he’d met his soon-to-be-at-the-time step father. He’d looked up at the much taller other, head tipped in a way that showed off big, round coffee eyes and chubby cheeks and childish teeth that shone in the light as he gave an almost warm smile to the stranger. And then he’d gotten one in return and he felt fine.

Then he’d moved in with them. And then they got married.

Mark remembered the first night he’d been awoken, stirred lightly when the door opened, eyes cracked open when he felt the bed dip, looked up in surprise when _he_ picked him out of the bed and grasped at his cheeks in a way that made Mark feel uncomfortable.

“You’re a beautiful child, Mark.” _He_ avowed, voice hummed and sweet enough to make Mark feel afraid.

The next morning, Mark had listened and didn’t say a thing about the night before.

Whenever _he_ came into Mark’s room, he’d press his tongue against his teeth to keep himself from trying to get away.

Mark would let himself cry later.

When Mark’s eyes opened after the long nap he’d had, he noticed another person bent over the other bed, putting away their things.

Mark forced himself to sit up, rubbing at his head.

“Ugh… hi?” He murmured, forcing himself to sit up and rub at his head.

“Oh! You must be Mark, right? I’m Cry.”

Mark stared up at them, cocking his head at the mask they wore. Their hair was a rusty brownish caller, maybe a type of auburn. The skin that Mark could see was like snow, so pale and fair and untouched or blemished by anything; not bruises, not red, and not even pimples. Cry cocked their head when they noticed he continued to stare at them.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, same!” Mark finally spoke, sitting up and running a slightly tanned hand through his dark brown, almost black hair. “Sorry, I guess I was just trying to remember you.”

They nodded; pale, thin fingers going up to lightly push their mask down a bit. “I was going to go out and meet up with some of my friends. I guess… do you want to come?”

Mark noticed the way they squirmed, like they were expecting Mark to say no. In fact, it seemed almost out of character. Mark wondered if he should accept, just to give the other some relief so they could be as cool headed as they usually were. It was only a minute show of nervousness, but Mark still felt it was wrong.

“Would your friends be fine with that?”

“Yeah.”

Mark guessed Cry never really raised their voice. He watched as their hands shoved into the pocket of the green hoodie, turning their head a bit.

“By the way… you’re right.”

Mark looked up, blinking in surprise. “What…?”

“You’ve been looking at me and thinking ‘they’. It’s right. Don’t worry, I can only sort of read minds. It’s not much.”

Mark watched their new friend step out of the room and into the bathroom adjoining with their dorm. Mark remembered when he’d mumbled to the person assigning him a room that he’d wanted one with a bathroom. He’d needed one with a bathroom.

Just a safe haven to mutilate his arms and/or legs in, no big deal…

Mark groaned as he finally got off the bed, muscles stiff and sore. He stretched, back popping into place and neck cracking a bit.

Mark wondered if he was going to be happier here. Here, he didn’t have small admonishments from his mother that led to hits, he didn’t have a man sneaking into his room and giving him touches and kisses and making him do things, here he didn’t get bullied for being panromantic, for being asexual, for being lonely when his friends had finally left him for a year of high school.

Here, Mark could change himself and conform so everyone would like him.

Here, Mark could pretend he was someone else.

Here, Mark could hate the real him even more.


	2. Like A Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mark immediately gets a crush on Jack- a romantic crush. I’m actually really excited for the part where he, as an actual demisexual, will finally feel some sort of sexual attraction and shut him out. Ugh, God damn it; I already really love writing this. Also, the group is Bob, Wade, Felix, Marzia, Cry, Ken, Jack, and now Mark. I’ll use other Youtuber that I know of for other people, and just because I don’t want to turn any of them into bad guys (I mean, I could, but I dunno…) I’ll use my main Mark’s bad guy OC as the character that pretty much breaks Mark later, which means Martin. I mean? I can’t believe I use the same guy every time but ugh. Also, graphic self harm and mention of rape at the end.

Cry had taken him to a park.

Mark grasped at his own arm tightly, exhale escaping him. The breath of air puffed in the cold, icy and visible. Mark dipped his head, uncomfortable frown set on his lips.

“Hey. It’s ok. My friends are cool.” Cry reassured him, giving a small nod to the other before turning back and walking forward.

Mark took quick steps to follow them, before they got to a gazebo.

It wasn’t huge; a small building covered in light, clean white and pristine, with flowers growing around the building. But there was something even more beautiful than the flowers.

Mark glanced a little higher to see a green haired man sitting on the counter top that someone had built into the luxury outdoor building, his laughter and voice so loud Mark could already hear it. It barely permeated his mind with the sound of his heart beat thumping so loud too.

Mark felt like he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of any of them, but especially this person.

Mark felt as if his heart was being tugged out of his chest.

In all honesty, he wanted to be with the other.

Mark felt an urge to go on a date, to buy the other gifts, to cuddle and spend all night texting until he couldn’t stay awake any longer.

Mark honestly was crushing on him, hard. Just from the image and sound of him laughing, just from the sight of blue eyes clashing with his own-!

Mark immediately looked away when he realized the stranger’s eyes had settled on his own.

“That’s Jack. He’s pretty cool, kind of loud though. Come on.” Cry spoke, fixing the backpack on their back and taking large, deliberate steps into the open hang out.

“Hey. This is my new roommate, Mark. I brought him along to meet everyone.”

“Mark!”

Mark flinched a bit in surprise when suddenly his friend Wade launched forward and hugged onto him, pulling him close. “Oh, Wade!”

“I was wondering when you were going to show up.” Bob spoke up, causing the half Korean to glance up in surprise.

“Hey, Bob, you’re here too!”

Cry huffed a bit, pressing their mask down a bit. “Great; I came here to introduce you and you already know some of the people here.”

“I’m Felix! This is my girlfriend, Marzia.”

Mark looked up to see someone about his age smiling at him, arm wrapped around a girl their age too. Mark grinned back, reaching forward to touch their fists together like Felix, he’d said his name was, had been ready for.

“It’s nice to meet you two!”

“I’m Jack!”

Mark looked up at the green haired man, who had his head tilted slightly and cerulean eyes watching him. Mark noticed his accent was Irish…

“I’m a bit new too. I’ve only been here a few months, jus’ got here from Ireland. Nice ta meet you!”

Mark smiled, tugging at the hem of his shirt in slight nervousness, wondering if it was because he was in front of mostly strangers or because of Jack. “It’s nice to meet you too, Jack!”

“I’m Ken.”

Mark swung around to greet the last of the group, smile set on his lips. “Hi Ken! It’s nice to meet you!”

By the time Mark and Cry were ready to leave back to their dorm, Mark had pretty much become friends with all of them, even Marzia. (Even though he was awkward and geeky and a little panicky by the end of it…)

Mark found he felt tired and on edge, though, by the time Cry brought him to the car. “Thanks for inviting me…” He spoke quietly, looking over at them.

Cry stayed silent, frozen for a moment, before, “Go straight to sleep tonight, alright?”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “… I gotta take a shower. I’ve been outside and tomorrow’s my first class.”

Cry looked over at him, scowl set on their lips as far as Mark could tell, only half of their lips visible from behind the mask covering part of their face.

“Mark, will you just listen to me?”

“Why…?”

“Because I know what you’ll do in there. Don’t. You don’t deserve it, and you shouldn’t do it.” Cry answered, tipping their head low.

Mark could finally catch a glimpse of their eyes, blue; before they tipped their head back up and fixed the mask.

“… You don’t know that.”

“I don’t know what you’ll do or I don’t know if you deserve it?”

Mark glanced away, fingers coming up to brush through his hair. “… I do deserve it, Cry…”

Cry let out a noise, quickly getting into the car and beckoning for Mark to follow.

Mark quickly got in, looking away as Cry drove. He felt even worse than he had before. In fact, for making Cry so angry, he felt doubly sure that he deserved it. Mark felt like a complete fuck up, hand coming around to grasp at his elbow covered in red flannel.

Mark had nearly forgotten they could mildly read minds, which meant that when Mark thought that he really needed a release, to cut, Cry had definitely heard it. It hadn’t been fair. Mark scowled, looking away out the window and berating himself.

By the time they were back in the dorm, Mark had already made his mind. He quickly grabbed at his pair of pajamas, a pair of red boxers (plus the knife from his drawers sandwiched between his clothes), and jumped into the bathroom.

It took a long moment of staring at himself in the mirror (and Cry, who stood outside hating that he couldn’t hear Mark’s thoughts at all when they were in different rooms), before he turned on the shower and undressed.

Mark hated his scars.

He understood it was his fault he had most of them, save the burn marring half of his wrist and licking up part of his hand. Mark had inflicted every other scar on himself. Mark missed his father, his real father. Not the one that forced him to call him daddy, not the one who snuck into his room and did things to him.

Mark felt fat tears spill down his cheeks and stick to his eyelashes. He missed his father.

Mark stepped into the shower, feeling heat beat against him in waves of water, grabbing his soap and a louffa and scrubbing away everything. But it didn’t matter. Mark always had a sense of dirtiness, no matter what. Mark always felt like a horrible, gross person, because of _those nights_.

Mark washed his hair, idly wondering if he himself would look good with hair like Jack’s. He could have a pink faux hawk, or a blue one, maybe even purple, or hell; red.

Mark figured scarlet would look the best on him. But maybe Mark could do a progression… Pink, then. Pink, then blue, then purple, then scarlet.

Mark wondered if Jack would get mad and accuse him of copying. It wasn’t like Mark hadn’t thought to do it before. He had, but neither his mother nor his step father had allowed him. It would ruin his looks, his step father said.

His mother had just plain said no.

Now, Mark could say yes to himself. He was an adult.

Mark finally stepped out of the shower, stopping his thinking-fest where he’d hummed After the Storm by Mumford & Sons to himself, before his eyes met the knife.

Mark decided to dry off and pull on his underwear before sitting on the lid of the toilet, staring at the sharp knife.

Mark remembered the first time he’d brought it to his skin.

He was about 11; 2 years after his life had turned to hell.

He’d gotten home from a particularly horrible instance of bullying, when his mother said she was going on a business trip and leaving him with his ‘dad’.

Mark had always hated when she called the man his dad. It wasn’t right. His dad was dead, not this asshole…

So Mark was left alone for a week with him.

A few days later, his step father did something he’d never thought would happen; he went all the way.

Mark remembered how sick he felt after- “Did I tear something? I’m so sorry Bambi…”- and how much he really wanted to die.

Mark only thought of death now that his father had died. Mark knew what suicide was, finally… Mark felt even sicker when the man used his pet name for Mark, Bambi…

So he took the knife and carved lines into his arms.

It had helped, it honestly had. To the point where Mark had forgotten his thoughts of killing himself and started hurting himself instead.

This pain, he could control. This pain, it helped ground him when he was ready to practically leave his body.

Mark finally realized he’d done the exact same thing to his 19 year old body now.

Mark sighed, dropping the knife into the sink and turning on the water, gently wrapping his legs and cleaning up some of the blood.

By the time he was done and stepping out of the bathroom, he found Cry asleep.

Mark stared at them for a moment, mumbling an apology before putting away his things and slipping into his bed.

After he put his phone on the charger and set his alarm, he let himself drift off to sleep.

Mark found that this time, pressing his tongue against the inside of his teeth didn’t make the nightmares go away.


	3. Everything At Once

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I’ll have Mark meet some other people, including Youtubers that I watch that aren’t gamers and solidify a friendship with Jack. Also, I decided while the main character is Mark, I won’t make it with only him having a story. He’ll be an outsider to some instances and only get part of the story for others. I just want an extreme college AU that has everyone doing their own thing but yes follow Mark! I might make the one who ruins his life an actual Youtuber but at the same time what’s a few filler OCs? I might add Thomas Sanders as well, but hey, he has a YouTube channel too so he fits I guess. Also, Revelmode Squad oh my god I should do it.  
> I like how this has angst set to happen and I’m just fUCK THIS AND THIS AND HAPPINESS AND COLLEGE AND PAIN AND URGLE-  
> This is more Mark’s journey through college, a place I haven’t been yet, than one story, so there’ll be a bunch of mini stories. I have a plan that’s going to be really, really sad that doesn’t have much to do with Mark later. You’ll see.

Mark finished getting dressed, his hands shaking mildly as his fingers grasped at the sides of his jeans and tugged. Mark glanced at the mirror-he looked nice, in all honesty. Today, though, he’d change his appearance. Today, he’d get a faux hawk dyed pink.

It’d look nice on him, he thought. Maybe Mark was getting narcissistic…

Mark glanced at the burn mark on his right wrist. Right… no…

Mark grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, movements shaky and pained. His legs ached from the escapades of the night before, but he ignored it, trying hard to not think about it when Cry was there in the room getting ready with him.

Mark was about to leave when Cry paused, looking up at him.

“Mark, are you ok?” They asked, mask up enough for Mark to see the full frown on their lips and the end of a scar that obviously was one of the reasons for the mask.

“… Y-Yeah, I’m fine!” Mark assured, pulling his bag a bit higher. Mark smiled at Cry, before they tipped their mask down again.

“… liar. I’ll see you later today, alright? Want to go out with the group again?” Cry asked, causing Mark to shuffle and watch the floor.

Mark felt self-hatred pool in his stomach, permeating his every pore. “… a-alright.”

Mark left before they could say anything else, taking as quick steps that he could without aggravating his wounds across his legs. He needed to get to class…

Mark felt fat tears fall down his cheeks, a curse expelling from him as he rubbed them away.

“You alright?”

Mark looked up, staring at the other for only a moment, before looking away. “Y-Yeah…”

The other had stubble, and brown hair. His eyes were just as brown, and filled with worry. “I’m Ryan.”

“… M-Mark.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

Mark sighed, looking away and grasping his arm. He nodded, grin splitting his face. It didn’t reach his eyes, but Mark still tried to pretend he was perfectly fine.

Ryan obviously didn’t believe him, frown heavy on his expression. “Look… I know you don’t know me very well, but if you’re not ok, I can always help you.”

Mark glanced up at him, chocolate eyes widening in surprise. “… r-really?” Was all he could muster, throat dry and tongue thick and in the way of words.

Ryan nodded, before shuffling and pulling out his phone. “Here, let’s trade numbers.”

Mark thanked him after they traded, watching the other go. For a moment, Mark just stared, before a curse expelled from him. “I’M GONNA BE LATE!”

Mark burst into the room just as the class started, cheeks going red when he heard a small group giggling at him and the others staring right at him.

There was one staring at him in a way that made him uncomfortable, almost.

“S-Sorry, I’m…”

“Mark Fischbach?”

Mark flinched at his name being said, looking over at the teacher. It was one of his core classes, English, but Mark was already screwing up.

“Get a seat, and stop interrupting.”

Mark nodded, quickly going up to the first free seat and sitting down.

He was between two males, one that looked more or less like what Mark felt like; a mess.

His hair was obviously unbrushed and looked a day late of washing, his shirt had a bit of sweat, and he was messing on his phone instead of the class.

The other one watched the teacher attentively, even going so far as to raise his hand and correct the teacher on something she’d said wrong.

“Thank you, Jeremy… again…”

Obviously, she was annoyed.

Jeremy told Mark that he always found things wrong with everything. He was a nitpicky asshole, his own words, and would even write down all the ‘sins’ he found in movies; logical, grammatical, and other things that no one would even notice. He was thinking of starting a YouTube channel.

The other one was named Shane.

Shane was kind of an asshole too, but at the same time, he looked like he cared enough. Mark felt like they were going to be good friends.

Mark felt dizzy when he stood after the class finished.

Mark’s mind immediately went through the check list; was he getting enough water? Was he too hot? Did he eat? Or did he get an infection and/or start bleeding again?

No, he hadn’t eaten. He hadn’t been drinking enough water. He needed to take his jacket off. He was sure he didn’t have an infection, but he’d have to check. It didn’t feel like he was bleeding, but again, he had to check.

Mark mumbled a quick, numb goodbye and rushed out of the building to find a bathroom.

“Mark?”

Mark’s hand slammed into the wall beside the bathroom, looking up at the green haired boy he’d met the night previous. His mind immediately found the name; _Jack_.

“Are ya feelin’ alright? Ya look about to pass out…” He spoke worriedly, stepping closer and putting his hands out to make sure the half Korean didn’t fall over.

“… I-I haven’t eaten or drank anything since yesterday’s breakfast…”

Jack’s cerulean eyes immediately flicked to Mark’s face, a scowl screwing up his expression.

Mark grimaced, apologies already ready to spill out of his mouth with no actual understanding of why he should be sorry.

“Alright, c’mon. I was about ta go for an early lunch whit a couple of my friends anyways. Oh, _our_ friends right? Ya know Bob and Wade?”

Mark nodded slowly, allowing Jack to grasp his arm and lead him toward the parking lot to wait for the others.

Jack didn’t have a license, and Mark didn’t have a car, so they weren’t going anywhere without the others.

“Here- I’ll get a bottle of water fer ya. Be right back.” Jack quickly helped Mark to sit on the curb and pulled a dollar from his wallet.

Before Mark could protest, the green haired boy stood and rushed to buy Mark the drink.

Even though Mark wanted to tell him no, he found himself taking the bottle and greedily gulping down the whole thing, just to make this dizziness and sick feeling go away.

“Sorry… thank you, I-I’ll pay you back-!”

“Definitely not! ‘a got that for you fer free!”

Mark stared at Jack for a long while, before exhaling softly. “… if you’re sure. Hey, Jack…”

“Yeah?”

Mark rushed a shaky hand through his hair, soft almost-black locks curling around his fingers. “I’ve been thinking of dying my hair for awhile now. Would you mind if I tried your style? I was thinking pink, or blue, or red…”

Jack raised a brow. “Of course! Want me ta help you?”

Mark dropped his hand, relaxing a bit. “… s-sure.”

“Oh, hey Mark!” Wade’s greeting caused Mark to snap to attention, cocoa eyes travelling up to look at his friend. He found he could barely mumble a greeting back.

“Mark needs some food and more water. He says ‘e hasn’t eaten since his breakfast from yesterday.” Jack spoke matter-of-factly, helping Mark up.

Mark found his legs mildly shook and his hunger made him slightly nauseas. He hated that he hadn’t taken better care of himself and caused this.

He hated that Jack had to take care of him just because he was too stupid, because in his hurry to leave his pain and never return he let himself forget to even care for himself.

If Mark wasn’t already weak from doing the same thing over and over…

“You coming?” Bob finally asked when they had stood there waiting for Mark to come back to reality for a few moments.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry!”

Maybe… Maybe Mark could try harder.

If Jack cared for him, then Mark could try doing the same.

Maybe Mark could feel better here.

A grin split his face, eyes shining. Yes, he was going to be happy here.


	4. Breathless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has Mark meeting even more people and the solidification of his relationships with others.
> 
> Also sorry for the long delay.

Mark layed in his bed for awhile, staring at the ceiling before his eyes finally drooped. The next day, not only was he going out to dye his hair for the first time, but he’d promised one of his new friends that he’d help with a project for Video Editing.

  
Mark twisted in the bed, pressing his wrist to his forehead and letting out a huff.

  
Daniel had been really nice, and in fact, he was friends with Ryan, the guy he’d met earlier in the day. They were all going to help with the project, and even though Mark wasn’t going to get any college credits for it, he was happy to help someone out.

 

Mark had majored in Biomedical Engineering.

  
Mark’s father had died of lung cancer from smoking- and wasn’t that just a terrible thing, when Mark desperately needed his help to take him away from his mother and his step father…

  
He remembered when they sent Thomas to an academy in another country, and he barely saw his brother again. In fact, even now, Mark had no knowledge of what Thomas was up to.

  
Last time he’d spoke to his brother was just a year earlier. He’d told Thomas everything about their mother and step dad, and his only response was to stop lying for attention.

  
It was at that point that Mark decided he shouldn’t ever open his mouth about anything again.

  
Mark felt warmth drip down his face and run across his nose, dripping to his bed.

  
He cursed lightly, sitting up to wipe away the tears that were running down his face.

  
His heart suddenly seized when someone’s arms wrapped around him.

  
Mark’s breathing stopped and he started to shake, before suddenly the arms were gone.

 

“Sorry, sorry… I’m used to doing that with my little sister when she wakes up from nightmares.”

  
Mark glanced over at Cry, shoulders finally relaxing a bit as he exhaled unsteadily. With a small shake of his head, he swung his lower body over the edge of his bed to sit directly across from them.

  
Cry’s mask was completely off, but Mark found it was too dark to see anything anyways. “… I-I didn’t have a nightmare, uh… I-I just thought of something s-sad. I haven’t fallen asleep yet.” Not all of it was a lie…

  
Cry’s thin lips pursed, the light enough to at least see that. “Mark, if I gave you a sleeping pill, would it help?”

  
Mark glanced away. In all honesty, it would, but at the same time… hadn’t he tried to kill himself with sleeping pills before? He found he didn’t want to take anything, especially since at the moment he didn’t want to die.

  
“Look- one won’t kill you.” Cry continued, standing. They disappeared into the corner of the room, and Mark listened to the shuffling before Cry came back with a Gatorade and a pill pinched between their thumb and index.

  
Mark sighed, accepting it with a small thank you and taking it.

  
“… What happened at night?” Cry finally asked after a long moment of hesitation.

  
Mark looked up, feeling a chill rush down his spine. “H-Huh?”

 

“Never mind. Good night.”

  
Mark watched them get into their bed again before sighing softly, curling up into his own bed. His eyes drooped, feeling a small buzzing in his head before everything melted away.

  
In the morning, Mark’s first stop was Daniel’s dorm.

  
Daniel shared his room with another Video major named Matthias.

  
Mark remembered Daniel telling him about his roommate, and that he might go somewhere in the morning so he should just wait with his roommate until he got there.

  
Mark knocked on the door, grin set on his lips as it opened and revealed a guy about his age with sky blue eyes. He was smiling at Mark, too, which made Mark feel reasonably better.

  
“Oh, you must be Mark! Hey, come on in.”

  
Mark stepped into the dorm, looking around at the room curiously.

Daniel’s side was obvious. It was the one to the left; covered in post it notes and ideas scrawled in the boy’s handwriting.

Matthias’ (Matthew’s? Either way, Mark was bound to just call him Matt. Though wasn’t that confusing, with two Matts now in his life…) side was much neater, and Mark found he was more drawn to that side.

Matthias looked up at Mark, before giving a small smile. “Did you want to look? I’ve been setting up a soda challenge for my Youtube channel with my brother and our friend, but I haven’t figured it out…”

Mark stared at what Matthias was doing, before he gave a small nod. “Alright, what if you just tie a mint to a string and hook it to the cap? Every time someone opens one with a mint then it’ll explode.”

“Hey- that’s a good idea! But what about the ones that don’t have a mint? It’ll be easy to notice which are open…”

“Then just open all of them?”

Mark started to help Matthias with setting up the bottles, even accepting the offer to appear in the video.

There was something therapeutic about the monotonous task of opening all the bottles and tying the string on some of them.

Mark found that he barely noticed when Daniel appeared.

Mark looked up, flinching in shock at the sight of the man staring at him.

“Uh-sorry, I didn’t notice you come in…”

“Right.”

Mark paused, feeling something heavy settle in his chest at the tone Daniel used. He couldn’t quite place the emotion wrestling from Daniel’s lips, but it wasn’t a good one.

“I can help you with the project now…” He stood, legs in a small amount of pain from the cramped position he’d been in.

“Right, you’re just going to be the voice of the narrator. So we can just get you to somewhere to record that…”

Mark waited outside Daniel’s dorm once he was finished recording what the other had wanted.

Mark hated the fact that he was practically shoved out after his voice was used, but he figured Daniel was a bit angry at him for not noticing and being so invested in Matthias.

His stomach rumbled painfully, hunger gnawing at his insides as he waited semi-impatiently for Jack and Felix.

Felix had asked to come along, and Mark was all for it since neither Jack nor him could get anywhere by themselves without taking a bus.

Plus, Felix was a pretty cool guy in Mark’s eyes. They were going to become fast friends, and Mark could tell.

It was a few more minutes before Mark opened his eyes to see Felix bouncing toward him.

“He-He-Hey, Mark!” Felix laughed, crystal eyes shining brightly in excitement as he looked up at Mark.

Mark smiled back, fixing his jacket as he laughed. “Hey, Felix!”

“Jack said he’d be here in a minute.”

“Sure.”

They stood in comfortable silence for a little while before Felix called Mark’s attention.

“You know, it was really nice to meet you. You’re really fuckin’ cool.”

Mark snorted, grinning widely at the Swede.

“And you’re a dork.”

“Hey!”

Felix playfully shoved Mark’s shoulder.

Mark paused, a lump forming in his throat before he exhaled, running a hand through his hair. No. Felix was just being his dorky self.

He wasn’t going to hurt Mark.

Mark needed to calm down.

But the damage was done already.

“Mark? S-Sorry… I didn’t even think. It’s just how I act with Jack, you know? I- ah, javla…”

“… huh?”

Felix looked up at Mark and gave a small nervous laugh, explaining. “Javla is- well it’s Swedish- it’s a bad word- it-“

“I say fucking bad words all the damn time, bitch.”

“You did that on purpose.”

Mark let out a hearty laugh, words dying away as he became incoherent. He was trying to say something along the lines of No fucking shit, but he couldn’t.

Felix found the laughter infectious as he laughed along.

And that’s how Jack found the two, dying and gasping for air as laughter filled the air.


End file.
